Article about Small Montana Towns not Being able to Keep Good Law Enforcement..

"Hard for Montana's small towns to find and keep good law enforcement officers

By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian
Posted: Sunday, October 18, 2009 6:45 am

* Related: Toole County has sheriff, but no sheriff's department

ST. IGNATIUS - Come graduation day at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena, Wayne Ternes says you can often find agencies trying to recruit officers who have been through the 12-week course on another community's dime.

Finding - and keeping - qualified law enforcement officers can be a monumental challenge for Montana's small, rural communities, to the point that they'll fight each other to get them.

"It is a problem," says Ternes, executive director of the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, also known as the POST Council. "It's been seen in small cities and towns all over the state."

When a police officer or deputy is hired who has not been through the academy, the hiring entity has one year to make sure they attend the academy's intensive three-month course, which is offered three times a year, and become POST-certified.

In most cases, the officer is paid a salary while attending the academy, and his or her tuition, room and board are picked up as well.

It's tough for small towns with limited resources to invest that much time and money in an officer, and then lose them, Ternes says.

That prompted the Montana Legislature in 2005 to enact a law allowing communities to enter into contracts with newly hired officers requiring them to repay some of the costs of training if they leave early.

The contracts are "kind of open," Ternes says. "The law doesn't say how much they have to repay, or how long they have to stay. It's up to the agency and officer to negotiate the terms."

It's also up to the agency to have the contract signed at the time of hiring. They can't do it retroactively, although some have tried.

"I always advise agencies to put it in place," Ternes says. "They can at least recover some costs if an officer leaves. Of course, they still lose the officer."

And that means starting the process all over again.

Here in St. Ignatius, the difficulties in maintaining a qualified police force have erupted into a debate in the race for mayor. A challenger has accused the incumbent of illegally employing a former chief of police who has never attended the academy.

Mayor Charley Gariepy says the former chief, P.D. Van Hoose, was hired as a reserve officer, not chief, and he was under the impression that was fine with the state.

Gariepy says he wanted Van Hoose, who served as police chief from 2004-07, to return temporarily and groom Officer Shay Clairmont for the chief's job.

Clairmont has attended the Montana Law Enforcement Academy, and is POST-certified. The second officer on St. Ignatius' two-person police force is currently enrolled in the academy.

Ironically, Van Hoose says that second officer has already been approached by another small Montana town interested in hiring him away from St. Ignatius after he graduates.

And the whole thing started when Van Hoose's replacement, Jerry Johnson, left for a better-paying job with benefits at the Sanders County Sheriff's Office.

"The toughest thing for these small communities is that what they're able to afford doesn't compare with larger agencies," Ternes says.

The POST Council is advertising for a new position, a compliance officer, whose job will be to travel around the state making sure all peace officers under their jurisdiction, whether they work for the state, county or a municipality, are qualified for their positions.

"It's not to hammer on anyone," Ternes says. "Our job will be to help them get in compliance."

But there's nothing the POST Council can do to help them retain qualified officers.

"Whether it's a small town like St. Ignatius or Hot Springs on your side of the state, or Bridger or Fromberg on the other, they may only have enough in the budget to pay $9 or $10 an hour," Ternes says. "How can they compete, once an officer is trained, with larger agencies that pay $20 to $22 an hour to start? What young person wouldn't jump at the chance to earn $10 more an hour by making a move?"

Incorporated towns and cities are required by law to provide law enforcement for their communities. The Montana Law Enforcement Academy charges them $1,200 to train an officer they've hired.

Individuals who attend on their own pay $4,200 for the 12-week course, but priority is given to officers who have already been hired.


Ternes says some communities, such as Harlowton and Hardin, have given up trying to keep police departments staffed and operating, and instead contract with their counties to have sheriff's departments provide it.

That, too, can get dicey for a small town, Ternes says. Citizens may not be happy with the level of patrol, and when contracts come up for renewal, sheriffs or county commissioners may see the contracts as a way to squeeze out more money for financially strapped departments.

Only Shelby has found a way around it (see related story). For almost three decades, their city police department has been consolidated with the Toole County sheriff's office.

"Those towns up in the Golden Triangle are really good about those sorts of things," Ternes says. "Instead of Shelby, Valier, Cut Bank, Conrad and the rest all buying their own street sweepers, they buy one street sweeper and one Lowboy trailer, and drag it around the triangle."

Of course, keeping the streets clean is a different matter from keeping them safe, Ternes says, and St. Ignatius is not alone in the challenges it faces to provide qualified law enforcement for its citizens.

Fairview, he says, can't compete because of the oil boom. "They can drive a tool truck around the oilfields for $20 an hour, and the town can only afford to pay officers half that," Ternes says.

Baker, he says, put an officer through the academy, then lost him to the Montana Highway Patrol when the town couldn't afford to give him a raise. In Boulder, the county seat of Jefferson County, a city police officer can double his or her salary by getting hired as a sheriff's deputy.

And every time an officer leaves, it's up to the town to recruit, hire and pay for training a new officer.

Then, they have to hope they get a good one who sticks around.

Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at (406) 319-2117 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com. "
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This is so funny, Montana Small Towns cannot keep "Good" law enforcement because they run out, set up, discredit good cops - and they leave town. Good Law Enforcement men and woman change the Status Quo and We can't have that, so they WILL NOT be allowed to Stay it is that Simple, you either play in the Good Ol' Boys and Gals network or you WILL get Set up and you will be made to leave the area. Do your job to Good as Good Law Enforcement and You will have some "charges" against you and you will be run out of that Small Montana Town..
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Also they pick someone they like or know in the community to be a cop and YOU the tax payers pay to send them to the academy, then you pay their wages but when you want accountability, want prosecution for your daughters rape, want to complain on a cop that had sex with your daugher so she could get out of her ticket.. well You have No Rights.. sit down - shut up and pay...
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There will be No Good Lawman or Lawwoman allowed in small town Montana if they don't play by the rules of that County, that Sheriff, that particular game... FACT..
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